


The Clone and the Maiden

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Transgender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 20:26:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7546511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snipes is adjusting to life as part of the Naboo Security Force, and finds not all people are targets or threats.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Clone and the Maiden

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Picking Up and Moving On](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6882871) by [ilyena_sylph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph), [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly). 



> Takes place after the series [Changing Fate](http://archiveofourown.org/series/435916) but you don't need to read that. All you need to know is that some clones wound up working with Naboo's Security Force a few years before _Attack of the Clones_ and Palpatine is already dead.

Snipes was generally too busy with security to actually pay attention to people as more than threat/not-threat. He worked more directly with Commander Panaka than anyone but Wiz, as his sharp eyes and specialty sniper rifle were deployed at nearly every event that took place in the courtyards or anywhere else in the open. 

Today had been one of those, with him winding up in the sun as the event drew on, baking him against the architecture that had provided him with the perfect view of the Queen and Senator. When it finally wrapped up, he had gladly pulled at his flask to get a drink before climbing down fairly unseen by any… and yet one of the Senator's staff was there, waiting with a cold juice and one of the protein-rich trail bars he preferred.

"Thank you, milady," he said softly, dropping his eyes after seeing it was the blonde one under the protecting cloak. He was told that it was rare for a Senator to maintain such staff members, but all of the handmaidens from Amidala's reign had taken positions with her after the election.

"Your dedication to duty is appreciated, Snipes. The Senator is pleased. As is the Queen." The handmaiden gave him a low bow, then moved on, her errand complete. As she passed to the end of the hall, Snipes dared look after her, and felt the swell of pride in his duty well-done… and a kinship. After all, were the handmaidens not a form of _vod'e_ to Amidala, in their unswerving loyalty?

`~`~`~`~`

Points caught his _vod_ by the shoulders and squeezed. He had missed his brothers, all that had remained on Naboo, while he attended their Senator on Coruscant. Snipes quickly took advantage of the close position to land a _mirshmure'cya_ gently, making them both laugh.

"Commander Panaka is getting a new batch here for the Queen," Points said, as they walked into the shared ready room, to find the rest of the squad at ease.

"Why?" Wreck demanded, as Roll frowned.

"So that we can all focus on the Senator," Points said, settling into the brief. "The reason she's got such a large staff for herself and her embassy on Coruscant is that they are fairly certain the danger didn't die with the Sith the Jedi killed. And she's at the center of suspected plots, because of her vocal support about dismantling certain laws in the Republic, to make it less repressive."

"That will work for us," Wiz said lazily. "Sounds like she's closer to the action."

"We'll all be working with her staff, getting better at handling actual social interaction, as well. So we'll be paired off to her women, and I expect us all to learn fast," Points told them. "Gunner, Shell, and Coil have already been picking some stuff up, so the rest of you… have some catching up to do."

Snipes tried to quell his unrest; he didn't do people, but his loyalty was to Amidala, freely given and respected by her. He could do this.

`~`~`~`~`

"The clothing looks good on you, Snipes," he heard before his eyes found the woman in the mirror. It was the blonde one, Eirtaé, and he found himself flushing. Ever since coming to Coruscant, he'd found her in his lessons or nearby at nearly every opportunity. For some reason, that made him feel awkward.

"Thank you, milady," he said in reply, his eyes dropping from her face. She came forward, her finger crooking before she used the knuckle to tip his chin up.

"You must learn to accept such compliments, Snipes, and to respond to them as the speaker deserves," she told him. "You and your brothers are quite handsome by many species' standards." 

Snipes swallowed hard, but he did meet her eyes. There was a strength in her face that he found intriguing, one that matched her willpower. "You touch me," he wound up saying, surprised. "No… don't," he added swiftly when she made to pull away. "Others, they avoid touching us, as if afraid of what we are."

She shifted her hand to rest the palm against his jaw, her long fingers stretching back into his hairline. "We of Naboo welcome the _Vod'e_ as our own people, both Gungans and Humans," she answered that. "Those who cannot see you as beings with will and drives of your individual owns are not beings I wish to know," Eirtaé told him. "And personally, I am grateful you are part of my life."

"Personally?" Snipes hoped his voice wasn't as small and broken as it felt like it was.

Eirtaé smiled. "You and your men kept my sisters safe." With that, she pulled her hand free, moving back to inspect him. "Yes, Snipes, you will do well in this new role we ask of you."

"I do not see how," he said, both relieved and disturbed to turn to the conversation he understood, that of security. "It is my eye and aim that has always served Milady Amidala best."

"Your eye is what is needed, my friend. I will teach you the details you must see, and then you will find the ones that do not belong."

`~`~`~`~`

The ladies rarely decoyed for the Senator, yet it was a frequent tactic for them to dress as ornately as she did, so that it was not always easy to make out which of the elegant ladies was the true Senator. In those circumstances, there was always a trooper near each woman, clad in the uniform of Naboo's Security Force.

This night had Snipes guarding one of the handmaidens, and he half-thought it might be Eirtaé, given some small sense of difference he was beginning to assign as her unique print. He had seen several small words passed between his assigned lady and people she mingled with, but currently, he was using every bit of his restraint to remain impassively on watch, for the being conversing with her was using language quite unbecoming his station, and one of the long appendages kept twitching toward the lady's skirts.

"I promise you would not regret an evening in my company," the sleemo was saying, and Snipes could see tension even under the heavy makeup on the lady's face. He decided he'd watched enough, and stepped in. He cut the being a hard look, but put his lips to the lady's ears.

"You are needed," he said firmly.

Was that relief in her breathing pattern, as she faced the being and made her excuses, before letting Snipes escort her out of the gathering room.

"Where am I needed?" she asked once they were alone in the small hallway leading away.

"Anywhere but where that person was," Snipes said evenly. She stared at him for a long moment before she had to laugh.

"My hero, saving me from someone I dared not offend," she said, amused and grateful in one. "Thank you, for your initiative and quick thinking."

"No being should be made that uncomfortable in such a manner," Snipes said, surprising himself with how deeply he felt that way.

"Agreed, but I could not find the right dissuasion for him." Eirtaé raised her hand, resting it along his jaw for a moment. He pressed into the touch, before reaching out to brush a small piece of lint from her shoulder. His eyes met hers for a long moment, before he spoke.

"Your touch is never unwelcome to me, milady."

They were silent for a long moment, before she sighed softly. "Walk me around the long way, and take me back in, Snipes?"

Was he imagining that she wished to stay with him? He had to be, but he had his duty. "As you wish it."

`~`~`~`~`

The battle had been completely unexpected, but Snipes and his brothers had risen to the occasion swiftly. Senator Amidala and her staff had -- predictably -- aided in the running battle back to the ship, before Points had gotten things fully under control. Snipes had felt a tearing through his armor, low along one side, but ignored the pain, focusing on the shot he had already drawn down on.

His rifle pulsed once, twice, and the controller at the other end of the battle fell dead, causing a brief commotion among the droids as their processors had to make the switch from guided to self-initiative.

His brothers didn't let many of them make the change, even as the world felt cold and distant. Why were his eyes taking on such a gray hue for the world… and then he knew nothing else.

`~`~`~`~`

When Snipes came alert again, he knew he was on Naboo; the air carried the scent of the water that he had come to love more than the heavy ocean scent of Kamino. He was not, however, in his barracks room, as the stonework was darker and there was a window, carrying the breeze off a lake, he thought, if the sound of the birds was anything to go by.

"You're awake." The relief and warmth in those words had Snipes twisting… until he hissed in pain and realized he was only in his small clothes under a light sheet. "Be still, Snipes." Eirtaé came into sight with a tray, settling on the edge of the bed. "You are on medical leave until that wound is healed, and I will not tolerate you trying to evade your restrictions, just to put that up front."

Snipes didn't know what to say. Between the fact he was not where he expected to be, that she was guiding his hand to a spill-proof container of water, and that she was in the simplest dress he had ever seen on her, he felt speechless. He sipped at the water, then flushed when she flipped back the sheet enough to inspect his injury.

"A blush, Snipes?" she teased him gently. "I was the one that tended you once Points had the armor off, my friend. I bathed you and bandaged you and was the one to help clean you from the bacta tank when it was decided you weren't thriving inside it."

"I wasn't?" he asked, startled. They'd said that after Honoghr too, that he'd fought being immersed at a deep, subconscious level.

"It's alright, my friend, to have a phobia of enclosed spaces," Eirtaé told him, drawing the sheet up to cover him again, satisfied the wound wasn't seeping any longer. "Drink all the water, then start on the cereal. It's thinned down but still good for you. And I'll fill the water again."

Bemused by her, he obeyed, finding the cereal slightly sweetened with a nectar, but not overly so. "Where are we?" he finally asked, as she was bringing back the water for him. 

"Naboo. One of the retreat cabins. The Senator decided we would remain here, while she and the others returned to Coruscant. She felt you would heal better here." Eirtaé settled back on the edge of the bed, and Snipes frowned up at her.

"Why leave you here? Why not just leave me with Points to make me behave?"

Eirtaé rested her hand along his jaw, and he could not help but melt a little at that. "I asked to remain. And if you are here, not on Coruscant, you might not get into trouble before that wound is healed. That is the Senator's reasoning for leaving us here."

"You asked?" Snipes shook his head a little, opening his mouth to protest further, but she shifted to place two fingers over his lips.

"I asked, and that is all there is to it."

`~`~`~`~`

Snipes tried not to impose too much on Eirtaé as he healed, but the wound had hampered his independence more than he cared to admit. The first time he saw the whole thing, he wondered why they had not just sedated him further and made him stay in the bacta, like his first experience after Honoghr. 

His face must have said some such, because she was quick to get the bacta bandages back in place, hiding the wound from his eyes, before looking him in the face. 

"You can choose immersion, if you want, now that you are aware of it, but we were not going to force you when it was causing so much distress."

"I don't want to be a burden."

Eirtaé put her palm along his jaw, knowing how that reassured him, that it was a sign of trust and honesty between them. "I chose to be your caretaker, Snipes. You don't get to label yourself a burden without invalidating my choice."

How was he supposed to argue with that?

"Umm, can we get rid of…. Well," he began, his body irritated by the insertion of certain medical devices.

"You're not supposed to be up on your feet, but I think we can get a hoverpad and if you promise to let me help you, I'll have the med-droid do that," she told him, slowly drawing her hand away.

"I promise. I mean, you've already seen it all, right?" he said, trying to joke. She gave a small smile, then went to take care of other matters.

`~`~`~`~`

The careful attempt to stand on his own was going well, but he quickly put his hands on the bars of the support walker when he took all of his weight onto his own feet, Eirtaé's own hands merely resting on his torso.

"Much as it's absolutely a great reason to have the most beautiful woman touching me, better that I can do this on my own, yes?" he said, meaning it as a tease. He caught a brief glimpse of her blush before she ducked her face, and wasn't that a change for them? He kept his gaze on her in the mirror, to see when she looked back up.

"You are turning into a flirt," she chided him.

Over the days he had been healing, Snipes had come to see that Eirtaé was possibly the most strong-willed person he had met outside the Jedi. She was also impossibly strong, able to support his weight for long periods, and to move him from bed to hoverpad. She had not teased him once over his biological issues, not even the morning she'd misinterpreted a sound he made before he was aware of her being awake.

If she had known what he was thinking of in those moments… but she had merely gone back to bed and left him to recover the morning pleasantries.

The overwhelming thing that he knew, though, was that he was falling deeply in love with her. She had used his convalescence to continue to teach him knowledge he needed to support the Senator, and half the time he struggled to hear the words for the fact he was staring at her.

Being able to stand on his own, even with a walker, was one step closer to losing her sole focus, and he was trying hard to hide how dismayed he was about that.

"Is it flirting when it is the truth?" he asked her, softer than he'd really meant to, and he felt her fingers press into his skin briefly before she drew her hands away.

"You shouldn't say such things; it might get my hopes up, after all." Eirtaé moved to be beside him, encouraging him to begin the walk to the 'fresher. 

"Hopes of what, milady? Because I have hopes too. Perhaps if we shared them, we could make them become realities." He couldn't believe he was being that bold, couldn't believe she hadn't cut his words off.

Eirtaé looked at him with a small smile on her lips, but it was not in her eyes, and that made Snipes' heart fail him. "Perhaps such discussions are not meant for while you are healing," she told him.

"You're probably right, milady," he answered, before setting his course for the 'fresher. He should have known better than to open his mouth, to make an issue of it. He was only a clone, after all, just a brother with a million twins out in the galaxy.

`~`~`~`~`

"The Senator and retinue will be back in Theed tomorrow," Eirtaé said quietly over the evening meal. Things had changed, since Snipes acquired mobility, and that aborted conversation. The trooper was reticent, more like he'd been since before the reassignment to Coruscant, and Eirtaé had fairly given up on adding anything but rehab exercises to their daily routine.

"How long?"

The woman took a bite of her meal, then looked up at him… to see him looking determinedly at his own food.

"They will stay three days. Do you want to go back to Coruscant now, or give yourself more time to heal?"

"I'm fine now. In uniform, I'll be even better; it's got support in it." He applied himself to finishing the meal; it was very good, like every other meal they had shared… and one more reminder of the fact that his caretaker put effort in every detail of a task, even if it was from duty alone.

"I will advise Points that you are not fully fit, but I do not see why you should remain apart from the company you'd rather have," she answered that, a slight puff of frost in her words before she concentrated on her own meal.

Snipes finished first, then set his utensils down rather than move to start clean up. Now he did bring his eyes up, watching her with the pain of rejection clouding his vision. She was so beautiful, so strong, and … not for him.

"I wish to apologize, before we return," he said, his voice gruff and forced. "I should not have been forward with you, milady. I assure you that I will be nothing but professional as we move forward."

She looked up, across the table, and he read emotions in her eyes that were quickly dampened and held in check by her polished poise.

"Snipes, I only wish you to be aware of the larger world. It is not uncommon to find feelings with a nurse or caretaker, only to have those fade away when health is returned," she said, falling back on psychology to handle him. He hated it, hated the words that manipulated what might be into what it could have been.

"Milady," he began, then floundered a bit, before finding the right words. "You have been close to my thoughts for far longer than just this injury. You chose to stay here, to give me a chance to recuperate away from stresses that would have pushed me to do too much, too soon. I thought, wrongly, that it meant some form of attachment was forming, even if it was merely friendship. That I find you beautiful, and you reacted the way you did to me saying it… gave me a moment's hope. 

"But you have been clear, and I will not upset the balance again. I am as I was designed to be, a man for your security, and nothing more."

Her hissing intake of breath wa the only warning he had before she was on her feet, angrily striding away from him, to the window with its seat overlooking the lake. Snipes let her settle there, then picked up their bowls and utensils, going to clean up the kitchen, even as he ached from angering her with his blunt words.

Falling in love was the stupidest mistake a vod could make, he decided.

`~`~`~`~`

She was still in the window seat when he came out of the kitchen, her head pressed against the glass, her hands knotted on one another in her lap. He averted his gaze quickly, limping toward his bed.

"Snipes."

He stopped, shifting his weight to his good side as he waited for the order or words to follow his name. Obedience was too indoctrinated in him for anything else.

"You are more than a product. You are more than a thing crafted to a purpose. You, like all of your brothers, are beings, and I will fight anyone who claims otherwise, with words or weapons!"

His ears told him that she was moving, but he did not turn, not even when her hand was on his shoulder. She hadn't touched him outside of necessary wound care and rehab guidance since that day.

"I believe I erred, Snipes, in my words to you, but not the intent," she said, coming around in front of him without losing that touch on his shoulder. "There are so many who would give anything to be where I am, with you, with any of your brothers. And I have been… possessive of your time, not letting you truly see those other options."

Now he had to look into her face, and it was not the politician's guise he found there. Instead, there was honest concern and … something he thought he'd seen in the mirror when he still nursed the illusion of being able to find love.

"Your affection, Snipes, is a gift to be given with care and knowledge. In rebuffing your words, I failed to make it clear that I find the attention to be special. I only wanted you to have true choice in the matter." She started to let her hand fall, but he moved then, raising his other hand to lay on it, keeping it there on his shoulder.

"People are targets or threats," he said. "Except you. You are the one exception, the person that first had a true name in my mind, outside the Jedi or my brothers," he told her. "Maybe I am inexperienced, not versed in people… but I'm not sure I can be. Or want to be."

Eirtaé tipped her head to one side. "Why am I neither?"

Snipes pushed up straighter, ignoring the pain in his side, blazing from being on his feet unsupported for so long. "Because from the first that we were assigned to Naboo, you saw us all as individuals, and took the time to see to our care. Not that your sisters treated us poorly, but you… you made me feel human."

She could feel the slight tremble, and quickly shifted her hold on his shoulder to take the hand on hers, pulling gently toward the bed, so they could sit. He went, reassured by the fact that once they sat, she kept his hand. It wasn't the touch he most loved, but it was still contact.

"Maybe that's because I know what it is to be outside the norms, Snipes. I do know how it is to be ostracized from the mainstream community. I was lucky; I had a family with power and money, who could help me along, but… there were whispers.

"Finding my sisters, giving myself over to being with them, that was a miracle in my life. I was disappointed to lose the election, yes, but Padmé was too gracious not to love."

"How could you have ever been an outsider?" Snipes asked softly. "Granted, you are the blonde one, and that's how I first tagged you in my mind, or the tall one at times."

She laughed, a low, throaty sound. "Both true," she agreed. "But while gender reassignment isn't necessarily uncommon, it is rare enough in the upper families to cause a talk. Especially when the child in question is ambivalent to the physical manifestation of anatomy, but chooses to avidly dress as and pursue the pastimes of a different gender than the presenting anatomy indicates."

Snipes flicked her a look that conveyed the fact he did not understand.

Eirtaé took a deep breath. "I was designated male at birth, but am truly more aligned with females in my approach to my society."

"Oh." Snipes considered that for a long moment, then shrugged. "You weren't using that as a reason to warn me off, were you? Because I really don't care. You're you. The woman that brought me fruit juice after a hot assignment. The woman that has taught me how to navigate social functions effectively. The woman who is here with me now, when my care could have been relegated to droids."

His words made her hesitate, and then she slowly nodded. "I think, perhaps, I was worried how it would affect matters, if we were to pursue our hopes about one another." She raised her hand, laying it along his jaw like so often in the past, and he pressed into that touch.

"I want to pursue my hopes with you," he said, his eyes half-closed as that simple touch soothed his anger and fears alike.

"Oh, Snipes…" she breathed, before she leaned in and kissed his lips, slowly, giving him a chance to escape.

He didn't want to, now or ever.


End file.
